Author: Eric Gilbert

Saturday started cloudy, as on previous days, but late morning the cloud eased away and very welcome, intermittent sunshine arrived, the first all week, this raised the temperature to 6.9C by 13.05 and then dropped away to a minimum of 5.4C at 19.45. However, during the evening and early hours this was reversed and the thermometer climbed slowly to reach a maximum of 9.5C by 07.46 early Sunday. This was the first above average maximum since the 7th (+1.4C). This change was due to the wind backing from northwest to west after 17.00, a warmer air stream. The brighter afternoon saw UV light trigger the sensor for the first time in a week.

Sunday after dawn revealed a cloudy sky but this was higher and thinner than previous days and might thin further after a warm front eases away as the day progresses. The wind will continue from the west all day and modest in strength.

The milder conditions should be with us until midweek as the recent high pressure has relocated to the Bay of Biscay so the wind circulating clockwise around its centre is feeding us warmer, but moist air from that region of the Atlantic. The barometric pressure has risen to the highest for three days with a reading of 1027.9mb at 08.00. The soil temperature at a depth of 5cm, has risen to 7.3C at 08.00, thanks to the warmer air, the highest since the 5th.

Friday was the last of the persistent gloomy days with low cloud and no sunshine. The diurnal variation was minimal yet again with a difference of just 1.1C with the high at 5.5C being 2.5C below average and the low of 4.4C was 1.9C above average. Light rain and drizzle began at 12.15 and persisted during the afternoon and into the evening amounting to 4.1mm that took the monthly rainfall to 39.6mm when the 40-year average is 94.0mm.

Saturday began as all the days this past week with low cloud and misty conditions. However, changes are afoot as the wind for much of the daylight hours will come from the northwest heralding an improvement as the day progresses with some sunshine likely. At last the persistent anticyclonic gloom will disappear.

Thursday was the sixth successive day with thick, low cloud that meant no UV light triggered the sensor. Like previous days the temperature varied little between night and day with the diurnal range just 1.1C. The maximum of 6.5C was logged at 19.26, being 1.6C below average and the minimum of 5.4C at 07.48 early Friday, being 2.0C above the long-term average. The precipitation amounted to 0.9mm from mist and light drizzle early Friday. The thermometer edged upwards just after 17.00 as a warm front arrived that raised the temperature 0.5C to its peak of 6.5C. Just after 01.30 early Friday the temperature started to ease downwards again. There was one significant change compared to previous days in that there was almost a complete absence of wind, with the anemometer occasionally coming alive indicating 1mph or 2mph for many hours, the peak movement was just 8mph.

Friday started even duller than previous days, if that was possible, as the cloud was even lower and thicker from a wide band of mist and light drizzle extending from London, west to North Devon. The cloud draped the Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest with continuous light drizzle in the misty conditions.

The recent high pressure has been easing away dropping 6mb in the last twenty-four hours. As a result of that repositioning the wind will at last veer from the northwest that was persistent for the past four days to southeast and south with it moving future clockwise to southwest this evening, bringing a less cold flow of air. We will have to wait until Sunday for temperatures by day returning closer to normal.

Wednesday was like the previous days trapped under the persistent low, thick cloud brought in by the northeasterly breeze but thankfully less strong. However, wind chill was still a factor when going out as it felt at least 2C lower than that indicated on the thermometer. No rain or drizzle was observed and no UV light triggered the sensor being the fourth consecutive day that this has occurred, but not surprising in Winter under the thick, low cloud.

The diurnal temperature range was minimal at just 1.0C variation between the day maximum of 5.6C at 15.25 and the night minimum of 4.6 at 01.24 early Wednesday. The high was 2.5C beak average whilst the low was 2.2C above average.

Thursday morning was identical to previous days so no change in the cloud cover but the wind continued much lighter and from the northeast with reduced wind chill.

The anticyclone that has hovered over the UK for the last few days is showing signs of migrating eastwards but change in our weather will be slow and not much improvement until the weekend. The barometric pressure has varied just 1mb since Monday with the reading of 1032.6mb at 08.00 with the centre of the anticyclone almost overhead this morning.

As the anticyclone moves away the wind tomorrow will begin to back into the east then southeast thus stopping the flow of air travelling over the cold North Sea and picking up moisture on its way. This will mean the resultant persistent gloomy conditions should improve.

The very high pressure moved little on Tuesday so it was another dull day, however, the wind strength had dropped a little with a maximum gust of 24mph and the average wind speed over ten minutes had fallen into single figures after the peak average go 18mpg on Sunday. Once again, due to the brisk wind from the northeast, a cold direction, the thermometer struggled to rise just 1.1C all day with a maximum of 6.3C at 13.38, being 1.8C below the average. At night the thick cloud acted as a duvet limiting any loss of warmth into the atmosphere with a drop of only 1.6C to a minimum of 4.7C at 07.16 early Wednesday, which was 2.2C above the average. Needed to say any UV light was not strong enough to trigger the UV sensor.

The new day on Wednesday struggled to come into life under thick cloud cover and the northeasterly still blowing but not as strong. Outside due to wind chill it felt more like 2.1C at 08.00 when the thermometer read 4.7C. The air is much drier today with a humidity level of 86% at 08.00 so no drizzle currently falling. There is no indication on the rain radar of any drizzle carrying cloud arriving at the moment.

The anticyclone has moved very little so continues the air stream from the northeast but today the ten minute average wind speed is down to 5mph with a maximum gust of just 13mph during the past two hours.The barometric pressure has varied little with a reading of 1033.3mb at 08.00, down just 0.4mb in twenty-four hours.

The forecast track of the Jet Stream varies little over the next two or three days so what we have today will be similar to that on Thursday and Friday but hopefully perhaps with a few breaks to brighten each day.